Sonic Tournament
by TailsLovesCosmo
Summary: Sonic and his friends receive invitations to a battle tournament. It seems like just a bunch of fighters and martial artists getting together for friendly competition. But some take it much too seriously. And what do the people behind it really want?
1. Chapter 1: Invitations

SONIC TOURNAMENT

Chapter One

"Invitations"

It was a sunny day in the spring that the letters arrived. Cosmo, going to get the mail for Vanilla, whose house she was staying at, saw them first. There was one for her and one for Cream. She brought them both to Cream, who was watching television.

"What are those?" Cream asked.

"I don't know," Cosmo said. "Here's yours." She handed the envelope to her best friend, and then opened hers. There was a single sheet of paper inside.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have been chosen to participate in the upcoming Battle Tournament, for your brave work in the war

against the Metarex. Each team will consist of up to five participating members and two substitutes. You may decide between yourselves which of you will be the substitutes. These members will battle only if a regular team member is unable or unwilling to battle. If you are interested in participating, be at Mystic Mountain in three days. The tournament will last eight days, so please bring sufficient clothing and equipment for that time period. Food will be supplied by the staff. Looking forward to seeing you!

"That's weird," Cream said. "Nobody signed it."

"There's no stamp on my envelope!" Cosmo said.

"Mine neither!" Cream said. "I don't think I want to go, Cosmo!"

"Neither do I," Cosmo said. "I'm going to call Tails.

"Prower residence," came Tails' voice over the phone. "I'm currently indisposed. Please leave a message at the beep, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you." Beep!

"Tails?" Cosmo said. "Cream and I both just got strange letters in the mail. It's a little scary. Please call me back as soon as you can. Thank you."

Meanwhile, Amy, watching her soaps, got up off her couch during the commercial to check the mail. "Hey, what's this?" she wondered. "Cool! I am so there!" She decided to call Cream and Cosmo. But before she could find her phone, the commercial ended. Patricia was supposed to finally come out of her coma today, and Amy didn't want to miss that. She'd call after the show. "No, Beatrice! Dr. Brenner just wants to make Laura jealous!"

Knuckles stretched. Guarding the Master Emerald was a chore, but since Eggman didn't seem to want it as much as he wanted to get the smaller chaos emeralds, and Rouge had been behaving herself lately, he'd had a lot of spare time. He'd heard the mailman a few minutes ago, but hadn't felt like checking his mail. All he ever got were advertisements and "You may already have won…" tripe. Well, he had nothing better to do. He got up and sauntered over to his mailbox, which was made of stone.

"What's this?" he asked. "Huh. Interesting." He grinned. "Very interesting!"

In his workshop, Tails put down his blow torch, and took off his protective goggles. He'd been working half the night to make a brooch for Cosmo. It looked like the one he'd given her the night of that long ago party on the Blue Typhoon, but it was multi-colored. Her birthday was coming up. He was going to ask her to be engaged to be engaged. His parents would have fits if they knew, but Tails had no doubt whatsoever that Cosmo was his soul mate. After all, hadn't even death been unable to separate them?

Tails rubbed the back of his neck. He was feeling a bit stiff. He decided to take a walk over to Cream's house and see Cosmo. On the way, he noticed the flag on his mailbox had been raised. He went through his mail. Junk. Junk. Scientific journal. What was this? As he read it, his keen brain came to one conclusion: "This is a trap! I'd better tell Sonic!" He called Sonic's number.

"Yo! You have reached Sonic the Hedgehog's private number. Please leave a message after the beep. Unless you're Egghead, in which case…nanny nanny nanny! Pbbbttt!" Tails rolled his eyes. "Sonic! I've got to see you right away! I'll be at Cream's house!"

Rouge lived in a cave. Not because she couldn't afford a better place. She could. She just liked it that way. As a bat, too much sunlight hurt her eyes. When she'd learned that Knuckles shared that problem, she'd been fascinated. They were more alike than she had thought. She didn't precisely have a mailbox. Just a slot between two rocks that she'd put up a little sign next to, saying, "Leave mail here." She was just going to visit Knuckles when she noticed she had a letter. Like Tails, she immediately thought, "This is a trap." Like Knuckles, she grinned. A tournament meant a lot of rich people. Rich people with jewels! "Come to Mama, my precious little sparklies!" She flew off, cackling like a witch in a fairy tale.

Sonic ran through the city, not going anywhere in particular. It had been quiet lately. No Eggman attacks. Most of his other enemies were in jail or presumed dead. No new menaces to worry about. It was a nice, sunny spring day. He decided to run laps around the town. On the third lap, he stopped at his house to get a drink from the hose in his front yard. He noticed the mail. After reading his letter, he decided to see Tails and Amy. Cosmo was at Cream's house, so he decided to look for them there. If they weren't with the two girls, he could always call them.

"Doesn't sound like Egghead," Sonic mused. "Or Mammoth Mogul, or any of the other losers we've taken care of. So I guess we've got a new villain to beat up on!" He grinned. "Hope this one doesn't try to talk me to death!" He sped off to Cream's house.

"Hey, boss!" Bokkun cried. "You got a letter!"

"Why don't we ever get mail?" Bocoe asked.

"The master gets all the breaks!" Decoe complained.

"What's this?" Doctor Eggman asked, opening his letter.

"Is it a trap?" Bocoe asked, looking over Eggman's shoulder.

"Sounds like a trap to me," Decoe suggested, looking Eggman's other shoulder.

"Of course it's a trap, you two nitwits!" Eggman said. "But it's an intriguing one! I think we should show up. What do you say, Bokkun?"

"Free food?" Bokkun said. "Count me in, boss! Hahahahahah!"

While none of them knew it, this would be an event they would never forget.

I know this chapter is short, but it's just the beginning. Next time, everyone discusses their letters, and the big day arrives. Who else will be joining the tournament? Silver? Blaze? Any suggestions? Will they join the tournament or refuse? Well, there wouldn't be a story if they didn't participate, would there?


	2. Chapter 2: Do We Go Or Not?

SONIC TOURNAMENT

Chapter Two

"Do We Go Or Not?"

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you," Vanilla said, "but I don't want my little Cream in another tournament. She still isn't over what happened to poor Emerl. Besides, we knew who was running that event. For all we know, that dreadful Doctor Eggman may be behind this. Anyone want more tea?"

"Well, I, for one, am going!" Knuckles said. "The chance to match my strength and skills against the best of the best! Yellow Zelkova was my last worthy opponent, and he's dead now!"  
"Sounds like you miss the big galoot," Sonic kidded.

"Tell me you wouldn't get bored if there was no Eggman around!" Knuckles challenged Sonic.

"Well, I'm going!" Amy said. "I want to prove I can handle anybody! How about you, Cosmo? Want to be one of our substitutions?"

"Um…I can't fight," Cosmo said. 'Besides, I hate violence!"

"Well, you'd only have to fight if one of us got hurt," Amy reminded her. She looked at Knuckles. "Or walked out on the tournament."

"Hey!" Knuckles said, pounding Vanilla's table, which shook violently. Tails had made it out of white oak, so it was strong, but repeated blows from Knuckles' fists would soon shatter it. "I was the first to decide to go, remember?"

"Well, I can't resist a challenge," Sonic said. "So I'm in. How 'bout you, Tails?"

"Um…I can invent things and fly," Tails said. "Unless they let me use mecha in the ring, I'll get clobbered. And I won't build or fire guns anymore." He put his arm around Cosmo.

"Hey, yeah," Knuckles said. "We're allowed to bring equipment! I'll have to bring the Master Emerald with me!"

"Why, sport?" came a sudden voice from the window.

"Rouge!" everybody cried.

"So you guys got invites too?" she asked. "I guess we'll be partners…Knuckie!"

"Well," Knuckles said, "I…p-partners? Y-you mean in the ring, right?"

"And maybe…other places, hmm?" Rouge suggested.

Vanilla coughed. She looked at her daughter.

"You should see a doctor about that cough, old lady," Rouge said.

"Old lady?!" Vanilla cried. "I'll have you know I'm…still in my twenties!" Everyone noticed she wasn't more specific.

"How nice," Rouge said. "Anyhoo, I am so there!"

"Going to try to rob some rich spectators, huh?" Amy asked. She and Rouge had never gotten along.

"Now did I say anything of the sort?" Rouge asked Knuckles in a breathless voice.

"Stop breathing on my hair!" Knuckles said.

"So I guess we're agreed, then," Sonic said. "Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and I are going. The rest of you still have three days to change your minds."

"Not going to happen," Tails insisted. "Come on, Cosmo. Let's get out of here before they talk us into something we'll regret later."

"No," Vanilla said firmly, "you and Cosmo can stay. But I'm afraid I'll have to ask the rest of you to leave if you want to discuss battling. I have a bad feeling this might be like one of those violent wrestling shows on television."

"Okay," Knuckles said. "Let's go! I have to watch the Master Emerald anyway."

"Yo," Rouge said, raising her hand. "I'm right here, Knucklehead!" She reached towards the far wall. "Funny, but I don't think I can stretch my arm _quite_ far enough to reach your emerald from here!"

"Hardy har har!" Knuckles said.

They went to Amy's house. Amy glared at Rouge. She hadn't exactly invited her in.

"So, what sort of stuff do we need?" Knuckles asked, sitting on one end of Amy's couch. Rouge sat down on the other end.

"Well, clothes, obviously," Amy said. "I wish they'd been more specific. I mean, if we're going to the beach, then I'm going to need a swimsuit. If we're going up in the mountains, I'll need ski pants."

"This isn't a big vacation," Knuckles pointed out. "We're going to fight, not kick back."

"Well, we won't be fighting the entire time!" Amy said. "Tails would probably bring a lot of books with him. If he comes, that is."

"I really don't want Tails, Cream, or Cosmo coming," Sonic said. Hyperactive as always, Sonic paced while everyone else sat. "I'm not really comfortable with you going either, Amy."

"I notice you don't worry about me," Rouge said. She was now in the middle of the couch.

"You can take care of yourself," Sonic said.

"How 'bout you, Knuckie?" Rouge purred. "Are you worried about little ol' me?" She was now sitting beside him.

"Well, I…" Knuckles did a double take. "Weren't you sitting over there a minute ago?"

Amy giggled. She'd have tried that herself if only Sonic would sit down all ready.

"Well," Sonic said, "Getting back to what we'll be taking, I think I'll bring along those special shoes Chris gave me to fight the Metarex. Just in case they make us battle on water or ice or something."

"Good idea," Amy said. "I'll bring along a big supply of pico-pico hammers." The hammers she owned were tiny, rubber toys. Somehow, even she didn't know the details, she could instantly convert the toys, hidden in her dress, into large, heavy sledgehammers. She didn't care how it worked, as long as it worked.

"I'll bring my shovel claws," Knuckles said. "Besides the Master Emerald, of course."

"Actually," Rouge said, "you should leave the Master Emerald. We don't know who's behind this event. They might try to steal it. You don't want to get killed because you were watching that rock instead of your back, Knuckie."

"Well," Knuckles said, thinking, "I guess I could leave it with Julie-Su."

"Who needs Julie-Su?!" Rouge demanded, suddenly in Knuckles' lap.

"What the…? How'd you get there?!?" Knuckles cried.

"Clown around on your own time!" Amy said. "I think I'll get my cards and do a reading. See if we should go or not."

"Oh, there she goes again with the cards!" Knuckles said, rolling his eyes.

"The cards know all," Amy insisted.

"They're just pieces of cardboard," Knuckles said.

"And the Master Emerald is just an overgrown rock," Amy said.

"Hey!" Knuckles cried, jumping up. Rouge fell on the floor with a thump. "The Master Emerald has proven its powers again and again and again!"

"And the cards said Cosmo and Tails would be together again, and they are!" Amy said, sticking her tongue out at Knuckles.

"Okay, you two," Sonic said, stepping between them. "Save it for the tournament."

"I think I want to be on a different team than Knucklehead's!" Amy said.

"Same goes double for me, Pinkie!" Knuckles said.

"See?" Rouge said, picking herself up off the floor. "I get blamed all the time for causing trouble, and I didn't do anything."

"You made him nervous," Amy pointed out. "And when he's nervous, he says stupid things!"

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Knuckles demanded. "Big talk from Little Miss Psychopath!"

"Bring it on, Red!" Amy cried, pico-pico hammer in hand.

"I said stop it!" Sonic told them firmly. "Come on, you two. Friends don't treat friends like this."

"Well maybe if you'd take me out to dinner once in a while, or compliment me about my hair or something, I wouldn't get like this!" Amy wailed.

"Uh…how'd this get on me?" Sonic asked.

"I should sell tickets!" Rouge said, grinning from ear to ear. "I could get rich honestly! Hey, I wonder if we can get dvd rights to our battles?"

"Don't you think you have enough clothes, Doctor?" Decoe asked, stuffing yet another suitcase full of clothing that Doctor Eggman never wore anyway.

"I think we should unionize," Bocoe suggested. "Equal rights for robots!"

"We need more popcorn for the trip, Doc!" Bokkun suggested.

"Just don't eat it all this time, you…you…vacuum cleaner, you!" Doctor Eggman said. He was in his bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. He threw out his chest, pushed his huge stomach in as far as he could and flexed his biceps. "Ah, man, I'm out of shape! Three days to get into condition!" He went to his new rowing machine. He climbed in, clicked on his 3-D television set which would allow the scene shown to move as he traveled, and started rowing.

"Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" Bokkun cried.

"Whew!" Eggman said. "This is hard work! Oh, why was I born with such a love of sweets?"

The three days passed quickly. Amy dragged Cream and Cosmo to the mall every day. Tails gave Cosmo the brooch and asked her if she'd consent to be engaged to be engaged to him.

"Um, Tails," she said, "I agreed to that when I first came back to you. We never got officially engaged because your parents don't approve of me."

Tails blushed. Sometimes he got so nervous around her, he couldn't think straight!

"But I'm happy to be engaged to be engaged to you," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. "And I'm sure your parents will come around some day."

Sonic backed a big cooler with chili dogs, just in case they weren't available during the tournament. He hadn't had one the entire time they'd fought the Metarex, and had gone through chili dog withdrawal.

Finally, it was time to go to Mystic Mountain.

"You sure you don't want to join us, you guys?" Sonic asked Tails, Cream, and Cosmo before he and the others started out.

"Well, we'll come with you just to say good-bye and good luck," Tails said, "but we're not competing. Besides, you guys don't need us. Cream's the most powerful of the three of us, and her mother won't let her fight. If Cosmo and I were along, you'd probably just worry about us."

"Absolutely," Cosmo agreed. "Every time I hit someone, it hurts me. I don't like it."

"And I don't want to hurt anybody every again the way I hurt Emerl," Cream said fervently. "I still dream sometimes about him."

They were traveling to the site they'd been instructed to go to in a large van-like vehicle that Tails had built for summer vacations. It was large enough for twelve people. More if they were as friendly as Rouge.

They were surprised to find Vector, Espio, and Charmy there.

"You guys got invitations, too?" Tails asked.

"Yeah," Charmy said. "Vector didn't say anything, 'cause she and Cream's mom are kinda fighting right now, and she said 'Get out of my house! Sometimes you're as bad as that dreadful Bokkun that keeps trying to date my daughter!' Hahahahahah!"

"Hey, shut up!" Vector said, pushing Charmy's helmet down over his eyes.

"Whoa!" Charmy said. "Who turned out the lights?"

"Here we go again!" Espio moaned.

"Well, well, well!" came an all too familiar voice. "Look who we have here!"

"Eggman!" Sonic cried. "So this is all one of _your_ schemes, huh?"

"Wrong, dimwit," Eggman said rudely. "I was invited here the same as you guys were. Hi, Rouge!" He blew her a kiss.

Knuckles punched at the air. "Hey!" he yelled. "Get your own girl, you freak!"

"You were invited too?" Amy asked. "Who's behind this, anyway?"

"And where are they?" Sonic demanded.

"I can sense that someone is watching us," Espio said.

"There's something strange going on here, and I don't like it one bit!" came a voice they all recognized. A familiar black and red hedgehog suddenly stepped around a large bush.

"Shadow!" everyone cried. Shadow hadn't been heard from since he'd threatened to beat Eggman to a pulp if he ever bothered him again.

"How'd they find you to give you an invite?" Sonic asked.

"I woke up three days ago to find a letter laying next to me," Shadow said. "I don't like people watching me while I'm asleep. Makes me nervous. And you don't want me nervous."

They traveled together until they reached a large building made of black metal.

"This really doesn't look good," Shadow said. "Be on your guard. I think we're being watched." He stepped up to the front door. A tall, burly creature that appeared to be part mountain lion and part gorilla stood in the doorway with his arms folded.

"Nobody gets in without an invitation," he said.

"I threw mine away," Shadow said. "But no one tells me where I can and can't go."

The creature blocked the doorway. "Who do you think you are, shorty?"

"I am Shadow…Shadow the Hedgehog!" Shadow cried, lifting the huge creature off the ground with one hand. "I am the ultimate life form!"

"Okay…you can go in!" the creature said. "Have a nice time!"

Shadow dropped him and sauntered in.

"Um…invitation?" the creature asked the others. "Please?"

Once Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Eggman had entered, Tails said, "Um…we're not really going to participate. We just came to wish our friends good luck!"

"We take off in twenty minutes," he said. "Once we start, nobody gets on or off."

"This is a vehicle?" Tails asked. It seemed nearly half as big as his Blue Typhoon.

Inside, they found a huge room with dozens of cushions. They were surprised to find Silver, Blaze, and Marine already there.

"G'day, mates!" Marine called. "I was invited to this party for me battling of fierce pirates!"

"We just came to your time this morning, and found the invitations waiting for us," Blaze said.

"Yeah," Silver agreed. "Anybody know who Iblis or Solaris are? We're supposed to have beaten them, but I sure don't remember either of those guys."

"Hey!" came Bokkun from the door. "Hey, boss! This big palooka won't let us in!"

"No invitations, no entering!" the guard said. Obviously, he wasn't afraid of Bokkun, Bocoe, or Decoe.

"Aw, but I wanted to watch!" Bokkun said. "WAAHHHHH!!!"

"They're sort of my cheering squad," Eggman said. "How about you look the other way for these three?"

"I have orders," the gorillion said coldly. Suddenly, his eyes glazed over. He entered the building and walked to the far door. It entered, and he stepped inside. It slammed shut behind him.

"Okay, that was weird," Tails said. "Maybe we should be getting out of here now."

"Yay!" Bokkun cried, running in. Bocoe and Decoe followed him. "Vacation here we come! Hi, Cream! Miss me?"

"I really think we should leave right now," Tails said to Cosmo and Cream. "And I think everybody else should leave now as well."

"Yes," Espio agreed. "I'm getting very bad vibes from this place.

"For once, I agree with you losers," Shadow said. "Let's get out of here!"

But just then, the front door slammed shut. The building started to shake. Then everyone fell to the floor.

"What's going on, Tails?" Cosmo cried, throwing her arms around him.

"The whole building just blasted off!" Tails guessed. "And we're stuck inside!"

One more chapter before the battles begin. Who's behind this, and why? Maybe we'll find out next time!


End file.
